Author

By Jason P. Henry (Conference Director, 2016 Pikes Peak Writers Conference) I’d like to believe my writing abilities have come a long way since I first started. I could attribute my improvement to many things, but there’s one factor that I hold in highest regard. That is the multitude of amazing people I have met …Read More

Thanks for inviting me to guest, Patricia! It is a rare book event where some version of the question, “What is your process?” doesn’t come up. Heck, I want to know how other writers create stories out of nothing, too. Alas, I still haven’t discovered the magic formula. So instead I thought I’d share a …Read More

Many people divide literary fiction from mystery fiction based on considering these elements: memorable characters and/or prose, sensory details, pacing (timing of events); high stakes; and tone (serious to humorous.) Which elements do these literary fiction authors, and one mystery writer, incorporate into their work? Most of these authors use all the elements. Since they’re …Read More

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy in Northern California but sometimes I miss the . . . old stuff that surrounded me in Scotland. The mediaeval streets, the fortified castles, the Roman walls, and of course the really old stuff: the standing stones. I’ve got an ambivalent attitude to standing stones, actually. I sort …Read More

All authors are thieves. We steal constantly. In fact, I’d keep watch over your family jewels whenever one of us is in sight. Now that I have your attention, and maybe even your outrage if you’re the kind of person who avoids the take a penny, leave a penny jar at your local gas station …Read More

Early retirement was an offer I didn’t expect to take. The clincher came when I realized the last day to exit the company was my thirtieth anniversary date. I’ve learned to never question fate—so I took the plunge. One day I was in a high-pressure job living on a constant flow of adrenalin. The next, …Read More

There are certain grammar errors that are like chalk screeching on a blackboard to me. I cringe when I hear them, and it’s all thanks to Peggy Riley Hughes. Mrs. Hughes was my seventh and eighth grade English teacher, a veritable martinet who literally beat grammar into us by smacking a yardstick on her blackboard …Read More

My love of stories started with books and got an adrenaline boost with movies. It’s all storytelling. Read. Watch. Learn. And eat popcorn. Lots of popcorn. Jupiter Ascending I wanted to love this movie. I mean, Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum? Hot. But the Wachowskis skimped on story here, and it shows. Eddie Redmayne, stellar …Read More

Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. Read More…